German Patent Application DE 100 06 800.6 discloses an apparatus for the selection and detection of at least one spectral region of a spectrally spread light beam (SP module). Selection means that are embodied as sliders are provided in the spread-out light coming from the specimen to be examined, so as thereby to direct portions of the spread-out light beam onto various detectors. The signals of the detectors are then used for image generation. DE 100 06 800.6 does not disclose actuation of the sliders in such a way that rapid and reliable detection of a specific spectrum is possible.
German Patent Application DE 102 27 111.9 discloses a spectral microscope and a method for data acquisition using a spectral microscope. Methods and systems for sensing maximum information from a fluorescing microscopic specimen are encompassed, but fault-tolerant and adaptive data acquisition is not possible with this method.
When a structure reacts to more than one dye simultaneously, this is referred to as “co-localization.” The analysis of co-localizations enables the user, for example, to analyze biological structures in which two (or more) stained proteins interact, or in which two structural features coincide in a very small area. When viewing a multi-dimensional histogram in which intensity frequencies from different bands are counted, each pure dye is perceived as a widened straight line (“cigar”). In the event of co-localization, the number of straight lines to be observed in the intensity frequency space is greater than the number of dyes. This state of affairs is often made apparent by sophisticated visualization upon analysis. The cytofluorogram technique introduced by Demandolx and Davoust visualizes an ensemble of two-dimensional intensities {{right arrow over (I)}i} (in microscopy, the pixels of an image, voxels of a volume, or a chronologically successive series thereof; in cytofluorimetry, the measurements of several samples) as a two-dimensional scatter plot that substantially represents a two-dimensional frequency distribution. An estimate of the composite probability function of the intensities {right arrow over (I)} is obtained on this basis, a method that is existing art in mathematical data analysis and whose quality depends only on the size of the ensemble. With suitable color coding and graphical representation, an image of the intensity distribution is obtained in which the straight lines can be localized by the user's eye as widened tracks. The widening exists as a result of all forms of noise and any chemical influences acting in the background. The visualization technique can be performed, however, only for a maximum of three dyes, since visualization of higher-dimensional data sets is difficult and as a rule creates more cognitive problems than benefits for the user.